Do Not Kneel
by TeamUnitedNerds
Summary: An alternate take on the fight between Gamzee and Equius


Everything was at it should be. Nepeta was gazing in front behind the grates, watching in horror as Equius confronted the Highblood. They exchanged their usual dialog, with Equius confusing the Highblood for Terezi, and Gamzee demanding that the lesser-blooded troll kneel for him, his yellow eyes radiating with the golden light of pure madness. The light that cast on his jaggedly smeared facepaint caused it to glow in a haunting manner. His face was pulled into a perpetually taunting smile, revealing his fanged teeth, which looked ready to sink into the soft flesh of something innocent at any moment. Yes, everything was happening as it should have

Except…

Before Gamzee could fire an arrow into Equius's knee, forcing him to kneel and paving the path to his demise, Nepeta sprung from the grate with her claws extended, letting out a furious, feline hiss while she soared towards the clown. He intercepted her hand in midair, dragging her claw across his face, as if to mock her. It opened up three gashes along his horrifying visage. Purple blood dripped down from his face and onto his upper lip. He licked it off gleefully, and allowed some of it to drip out of the side of his mouth. He let Nepeta fall to the ground, but kept his grip on her arm, almost hard enough to snap it in two. She thrashed around wildly, but his grip showed no sign of loosening. Meanwhile, Equius was STRONG charging towards the pair, the ground shaking beneath his mighty legs as he prepared to ram into Gamzee with the speed of a marvelous hoofbeast.

Gamzee turned around, almost casually, pulled out Equius's bow, and fired it into his knee. Equius stopped dead in his tracks, and his leg began to wobble. It took all of his willpower to keep from collapsing completely.

"I TOLD YOU TO MOTHERFUCKING KNEEL"

His voice was raspy, like what you would expect a demon to sound like. Equius's leg almost buckled, but he kept standing.

"D→ No"

His delivery was blunt and authoritative, and showed no sign of pain, despite the arrow lodged in his knee.

"EXCUSE ME?"

Gamzee's voice was somehow even more nightmarish this time

"D→ No" he repeated

"FINE" he said. He withdrew his deuce clubs. Before Equius could react, he swung one into Nepeta's head. There was a repulsive crack that filled the room, like a bug being crushed underfoot, and Nepeta collapsed to the ground, in a pool of green blood.

The noise that Equius produced was somewhere between a roar and the sound of thunder echoing through a mountain. He ripped the arrow out of his leg, and leapt at Gamzee, closing the distance between them.

"D→ I will never kneel before you. Despite your status on the Hemospectum, you are still undignified scum. I realize that now"

Equius took the arrow, still dripping with his blood, and shoved it through Gamzee's leg. It pierced through cleanly. Gamzee didn't react. If anything, his smile seemed to widen.

Equius took a small leap into the air, and landed on Gamzee. The floor exploded beneath them, breaking all the way through to the next floor. Plumes of purple blood exploded from Gamzee's mouth, staining Equius's shirt. But he wasn't nearly done yet. He pounded into Gamzee's face with his fist, over and over, determined to wipe that grin off of his face, and he wouldn't stop punching until all that was left of Gamzee was wet purple chunks on the ground.

After what felt like hours of repeated hammering, Gamzee was still alive somehow. Laughing could be heard between the jackhammer-like sound of Equius's fists, and the ground shattering beneath them. Dark blue tears descended down from Equius's glasses

"D→ Why...won't...you...just...die"

His voice began to crack, losing his commanding and booming tone. Gamzee's laughter was now mixed with coughing and wheezing, but it was no less mocking. Equius took his hands from Gamzee, and walked away. No doubt the clown would be back on his feet in an hour, and would come back to slaughter him and the rest of his friends. As this point, he couldn't care. It was hopeless. You can't keep down the clown.

Sweat poured from his face, and his fists clenched together. Wordlessly, he STRONG jumped back towards him, leaning into Gamzee's chest. He plunged his fist downwards.

Now, troll skin is less like skin, and more like a strong, but flexible shell, with trolls being closely related to insects, so as Equius's hand made its way into Gamzee's chest, it looked less like skin being pieced, and more like an eggshell being thoroughly smashed on the ground. His hands finally reached his ribcage, and with a mighty tug, he ripped Gamzee's heart out. The purple organ was still beating in his hand. Equius squeezed it, just lightly. It burst like a water balloon, coating his entire body in the thick purple liquid. Gamzee's smile faded, as did his life.

Although Equius didn't know it at the time, he ended up absorbing Gamzee's status as the most important character in Homestuck, and would go on to defeat Lord English while riding a muscular unicorn, the most dignified of all the hoofbeasts


End file.
